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Operation Tidebreaker
Name: Tidebreaker *'Date:' 342-355.M41 *'Commanding Officer:' Captain Dreidor *'Forces:' Morbid, Fourth Company *'Location:' Barivia, Sector Paxia, Segmentum Obscurus. 'Description' 'Prelude' In the wake of the legal hearings following the Betrayal at Varda, Chapter Master was approached by Captain Alexis London - an officer of Battlefleet Paxia. Cpt. London was in Sector Deus to request the Chapter's assistance in defending their vital agri-world of Barivia against an impending Ork Waaagh. They offered a Heavy Transport filled with valuable industrial materiel as thanks for merely sending aid and Chapter Master accepted, dispatching the 4th Company and Strike Cruiser Morbid under command of marine Captain Dreidor. 'Space Battle' Morbid and Captain London's patrol group Jester - consisting of the Dauntless-class Light Cruiser Jester and a squadron of Cobra-class Destroyers - arrived in Sector Paxia in 345.M41, and arrived in the Barivia system after Admiral Drake of Battlefleet Paxia perished with the flagship Faithkeeper in a failed ambush attempt on the invading fleet. Centered around an infested Space Hulk, the Orknoid fleet had mercifully slowed for repairs after the attack, allowing additional Imperial forces, including Morbid & patrol group Jester, to arrive. Morbid and Jester ran silent to engage the Orknoid flank as it bore down upon the final Imperial defenders of the world, and soon found that they were not alone; the Iron Monks too had sent aid, centered around the Lunar Cruiser Faithbringer. ''Despite the best efforts of the reinforcements hailing from Sector Deus, the Orknoid fleet's ram ships swept aside the Imperial escort squadrons and the few cruisers of Battlefleet Paxia fell one by one. Approaching orbit of the agri world Barivia, the Space Hulk launched Roks into the shattered Imperial defense line, forcing ''Morbid to disengage to preserve her deadly cargo of Astartes after a torpedo strike destroyed the venerable ship's void shield array. Meanwhile Rogue Trader Corinna Beriaun arrived to the battle spearheading an elite squadron of Cobra-destroyers, and unleashed a salvo of melta torpedoes into the rear of the space hulk. But with the Imperial Fleet in disarray even this was not enough to even slow the hulk. Corinna Beriaun assumed command of the remaining Imperial vessels after the cruiser Longbow and Commander Destrand were incapacitated, ordering a general retreat to preserve what little remained of the shattered fleet. With the remaining Orknoid fleet claiming orbit, Imperial forces were forced to conduct field repairs and watch helplessly as Barivia was invaded for nearly six months. As additional Naval forces, pressganged civilian vessels and even a few Rogue Trader vessels heeding the call to arms arrived in-system, Beriaun formed a desperate plan. With only one cruiser - the Iron Monks' Faithbringer - ''fit for battle, Beriaun separated her fleet into two forces. Every warship available, save for ''Morbid & Jester, would form up and make a suicidal attack run at the Space Hulk in orbit. Every transport capable of moderate speed and launching assault craft, lighters or even saviour pods would be loaded with as many bodies as possible and deploy them to reinforce Barivia's defenders. It was hoped that the main attack force would distract the greenskin fleet long enough for the transports to disgorge their cargo and begin their escape with a low orbit pass of the world. Without void shields and as the only vessel designed to deploy forces for a planetary assault, Morbid formed the core of this second force. While numerous lighters were capable of attaching themselves to the underside of the hull, Morbid's launch bay was packed so tightly that brothers of the 4th Company had to disable the artificial gravity and throw dozens of craft into the void before they could engage their engines without damaging other craft. Damaged in the previous fighting, Jester was assigned to hold tight formation with Morbid and shield the Astartes vessel with itself until all forces had been deployed, then join the main attack force in higher orbit. The Orknoid fleet found itself vulnerable - having deployed the majority of its attack craft and the surviving Roks to the surface of Barivia - but the sheer mass and bulk of the Space Hulk allowed it to survive the onslaught of the Imperial Navy's guns while the remaining Terror Ship and Kroozers were pounded until their reactors detonated. Trailing the main attack force and crippled by fire, Jester resorted to ramming the space hulk, and Cpt. London was forced into a saviour pod by Jester's remaining skeleton crew against her own demands to remain with her ship. London could only watch as Jester and her most devoted crewmembers ploughed into the side of the space hulk, tearing deep into the amalgamation before its plasma reactor detonated and obliterated the ork-infested vessel. With the space hulk - and orknoid reinforcements with it - destroyed, Barivia was saved from total annihilation. However, millions of orks had already made planetfall on roks and crude assault landers, enacting a brutal ground war with Barivia's PDF. 'Ground Battle' Barivian PDF forces assaulted the orknoid landing sites and obliterated most of them, though they expended almost all of their military strength in the process. The Barivian PDFs front-line forces suffered ~80% casualties in these opening actions, forcing the planet to resort to the deployment of rear-line troops and conscripted civilian militia against the remaining ork presence - which was still gargantuan despite all the damage that had been inflicted upon it. The orks practically swept over these poorly trained forces, inflicting massive losses and capturing several cities. The war reached its apex when orks arrived at the boundaries of the Heartlands - a large region of Barivia that contained most of its population and agrarian areas, and was bordered by large mountain ranges. There were only three ways into the heartlands that didn't require an army to navigate colossal mountains: the Frenstein Valley, the city of New Zuric, and the city of New Vienna - all of which were under siege by greenskins. The frontlines surrounding the cities collapsed just as the relief force began making planetfall, and orks flooded into these urban areas to slaughter civilians and poorly-armed militia. Frateris Militia of the Iron Monks held the Frenstein Valley, enduring massive losses in the process. Meanwhile two elite regiments from the nearby hive-world - and sector capital - of Brinica Prime landed in New Zuric and pushed the greenskins out of the city, sending the orknoid forces into a rout. The 4th Company made planetfall in New Vienna and relieved the sparse garrison of the city's Brexen Fortress - commanded by one General Eberhardt. Keeping their Predators and devastator squads in the fortress, the rest of the company split into combat squads and spread out into the city to hunt the splintered ork forces within. With a series of ambushes and baiting manoeuvres the orks were drawn into the large city square in front of Brexen fortress, where the devastator squads and predators could cut them down en masse. Once New Vienna was cleansed the 4th moved out to the collapsed frontline, reinforcing the PDF and pushing back the greenskin horde. With the roars of bolter & chainsword and waves of lasfire the greenskins were cut down, and their largest war machines were reduced to wrecks by heavily armoured thunderhawks as they strafed the ork horde. After hours of intensive battle the primary ork horde was routed and the imperial forces finally had the waaagh on its back foot. Whilst the Barivian PDF regrouped and rearmed the tireless astartes scouted out ork-held cities and strongholds, and purged smaller ork parties when encountered. Once the Barivian PDF was ready to mobilise again the 4th had extensively mapped the orks' positions, and led the Barivian troops in offensives to reclaim these territories. Within the space of a few months most major cities had been retaken and their enslaved populaces - or what remained of them - liberated. However the greenskin infestation was significant, and orks roamed the countryside in innumerable scattered clans across the planet. Over the course of the entire invasion approximately ten million Barivians were killed - roughly 7% of the planet's population beforehand. 'Aftermath' The 4th Company was essentially stuck in Paxia for the next ten years as their ship was repaired. They used this time to relentlessly hunt down every last vestige of greenskin they could find on Barivia, ensuring that once the next generation of orks sprouted from spores they would be no more than low-tech ferals. The 4th also helped in training the rebuilding Barivian PDF, sharing the Chapter's extensive knowledge of fighting orks and ensuring a high standard of soldier with their stringent physical drills. Meanwhile the incompetent Barivian High Command - which was composed of Brinicans that had been installed as pawn-rulers by Brinica Prime - was overthrown by a military junta of native Barivian officers, and several executed for decisions that had put Barivia at an unnecessary disadvantage against the Waaagh and left the planet even more damaged than it would have otherwise been (not to mention the general animosity between Brivia and Brinica Prime that went back decades). The 4th company mostly refused to interfere one way or the other in this coup, though may have given one or two suggestions to the junta over which poor strategic decisions warranted execution. Chartist Captains, Rogue Traders, and all manner of independents flocked to Barivia in the wake of the invasion, providing the broken world with the things it needed to rebuild at favourable rates, as well as taking advantage of various surpluses. One such surplus was Naval personnel of Battlefleet Paxia, a very large number of which now found themselves without ships after the costly space battle. Among them was Captain London and much of her command crew. It was originally intended that the entirety of Patrol Group Jester - including crew - would be given to the Ghosts of Retribution as thanks for their intervention, but as the ships were destroyed only the crew could be offered. Nevertheless the offer was gladly accepted and the veteran Cpt. London and her experienced command crew were officially transferred into the Chapter Fleet. London was given command of the Morbid with her officers - and former commander Captain Polk was promoted to a position upon Aspera Dominus' bridge crew (which he would take up upon their return to Sector Deus). Barivia still considered themselves indebted to the Ghosts of Retribution, not only for their intervention during the invasion but also their training of Barivian forces afterwards. The agri-world first covered the cost of materiel lost by the 4th during the invasion (ie power armour, weapons etc.), as well as all repairs for the Morbid. They offered other things like pledging Regiments to the chapter's command but Captain Dreidor refused, though he appreciated their offer it wouldn't have been right to take more from the world when they needed to rebuild. As such Barivia still considers itself indebted to the Ghosts of Retribution, though if & how this favour will ever be called in remains to be seen. The Morbid was finally repaired in 355.M41 and the 4th Company returned to Sector Deus, with several more ship officers and several fewer brothers than it had when it left. Category:Chapter Operations Category:Ground Battles Category:Naval Battles Category:Marked for Update